That opening scene in Smash Bros. Brawl where Zelda and Peach jump down to help Mario and Kirby. That doesn't make much sense considering they always get kidnapped and just stand there waiting for Mario or Link to save them. Zelda in Ocarina of Time the part where you fight Ganondorf she just stands there and screams when you get hit and doesn't do anything! It's pretty funny how they are all of a sudden fighters in Smash Bros.

Adam is right, both have mixed roles as damsels in distress. Zelda has more prominent roles in OoT (as Sheik) and Windwaker (as Tetra). no one cares about the CDi game, though. She was also holding a pretty nice sword and playing commander in some scenes before being shut up in her tower in Twilight Princess, so i think it's safe to say she knows how to fight. we've just never really gotten to see her in action is all.

As for Peach, she has more prominent roles in SMB2(US), Super Mario RPG (hell, she fights for the first time in SMRPG), Paper Mario(you can control her for a little bit anyway)/Super Paper Mario, and Super Princess Peach. Peach is also a playable character in Super Mario Kart and Mario Tennis; those don't have any kind of major story or plot, though.

BEST THREAD EVERfuture of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
[16:44] Vintage: We have rules?
[16:44] Reala: don't expose the staff to sunlight, don't get them wet and don't feed them after midnight

Peach surprisingly gets more action (video game action, I mean; well, who knows, maybe both ways?) than Zelda. I don't understand this. I don't care what style of game play the next Zelda game has, but I'd really, really like to see Zelda in a role that is nearly equal to Link's. It would make the game so much more interesting. Breaking the game into chapters where you play as one or the other, or maybe having them together and switchable all game (perhaps even co-op-able?!) would be nice. Or even not playable, but doing something much more active and not being captured. She supposedly has pretty powerful magic; why not put it to use? Heck, it'd be an interesting twist if Link were captured in the middle of the final battle and you had to save him as Zelda or even fight Dark Link. The series needs to have some new life breathed into it.

EDIT: Hey WolfRamHeart, I have an idea -- WHY DON'T YOU POST WHAT I'M ABOUT TO SAY RIGHT BEFORE I SAY IT.

Actually, I think playing just as Zelda would turn off too many old fans. It'd be nice to have a transition game where you can be either or both, and if it works well, switch only to Zelda later on, possibly.

a Zelda vs. Dark Link fight? hell, that could be a major part of the story -- where Dark Link (or a random Ganon-type evil entity in the form of Dark Link) has realized that Link himself is big in Hyrule, but he/it can't directly face him due to his strength and power and general awesomeness and stuff, so he first befriends Link, then kidnaps or ousts him from the land somehow (puts him out into another dark world or some other dimension?) and Link has to fight his way back. In the meantime, Dark Link masquerades himself as Link (in this storyline DL would not be all shadowed and stuff at first), and before Zelda realizes what's going on he's usurped her power entirely (the people rely on Link to save them all, so they're blindly loyal to Dark Link in his place) and has her confined to her tower, and she has to escape (as Sheik, leaving maybe a lady in waiting or something to pretend to be her so he doesn't think anything's going on), find the real Link, and then they both work together to storm the castle. w00t.

BEST THREAD EVERfuture of NL >:3
[16:43] James: I should learn these site rules more clearly
[16:44] LztheBlehBird: James doesn't know the rules? For shame!!!
[16:44] Vintage: We have rules?
[16:44] Reala: don't expose the staff to sunlight, don't get them wet and don't feed them after midnight